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So you’ve never been much of a green thumb. You’ve decided, however, that this will be the year when you’ll get a handle on the garden. But how to make sense of the blank canvas that is your outdoor space?

The first thing to remember — something all gardeners are told when they start out — is this: a garden is never finished.

You’ll always be in a mood to change something, improve something, add or take away, or even embark on a complete redo.

I have yet to find a gardener who says his or her garden is finished; it’s always a work in progress.

Having said that, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by following a few common sense rules. Here are 10 that I wish I had paid more attention to when I started years ago. Some of them are gained from years and years of talking to gardeners, while others are lessons learned from my own trial and error.

1 Draw up a master plan. It is better to have a design drawn up, incorporating all the features you are looking for in a garden, rather than working here and there in a higgledy piggledy fashion as the mood takes you.

This way, you can work on parts of your plan as time and money permit, and you will still end up with a consistent whole. Many people use this method to create the garden of their dreams over a number of years. It is a mistake to try to build a garden without a plan.

Your plan also should always contain an air of mystery. Make sure your whole garden is not revealed in a single glance. It is best if people are kept guessing what’s around the corner.

2 Always put in your “hardscaping” first. Paths, walls, fences, patios, arches and arbours should be installed before any planting. Once these permanent features are done, they can be tastefully softened by intelligent planting. It is a common error to rush hell-for-leather into planting trees and shrubs, only to realize too late that you needed to put in a retaining wall or path or pond. If you follow tip No. 1 this won’t be a problem because you will already be aware of what permanent landscape features need to be installed ahead of planting.

3 Always try to pick the right plant for the right spot. Don’t run off to the garden centre without first taking time to know the site – where the rain puddles, where frost stays, where shadows fall, where the sun comes first thing in the morning, where it beats down in the afternoon.

This information is invaluable. It will save you from buying plants for the wrong place. Always look first at the spot where you want to plant something, analyze the conditions (wet or dry, hot or cool, shadow or sunny) and then go to the garden centre to look for a plant that will thrive in those conditions. This is the way to always get the right plant in the right spot.

Vegetable gardens should be in full sun in well-drained soil. But edible plants can often be mixed in to flower borders as they often have beautiful flowers and foliage.

4 Build your garden with four seasons of interest in mind.

Don’t plant only spring or summer flowering plants; also pick plants that provide fall and winter interest. When you are considering buying a plant, look it in the face and ask it: What more do you do for me? I see you have nice flowers, but what about your foliage and shape and structure? Do you have fall colour? Do you have winter interest?

The important thing here is to always pick plants that have more than one attractive characteristic and ideally look terrific in more than one season.

5 Hit the heights. Make people lift their head when they enter your garden rather than having to look down at the ground most of the time.

You do this by growing climbers, such as roses and clematis, into trees and over arches and up pillars and along pergolas.

The idea is to get people looking up. It is also always good when you can work in a change in elevation, getting people to walk up and down steps to a new level. This adds interest and keeps the garden full of surprises.

6 Look for ways to create exciting changes in elevation. This can involve terracing a slope into a series of horizontal borders or a staircase.

Changes in direction and elevation always add interest and create a feeling of change and transition. Consider developing a tunnel using wisteria, clematis or roses.

Tunnels also create a magical sense of transition and mystery as they take you in at one end and carry you through space into a new area to discover.

7Make a good first impression. Give your garden a good entrance and make sure it tells people they are welcome once they get inside.

First impressions count. It is the same with gardens. A good entrance gate can set the tone for everything that happens afterwards.

Inviting sitting spots tell people immediately that they are welcome to stay and relax. Without a few well placed seats it comes across that all you want people to do is come in, look at your plants and leave. Send a clear message that your garden is a warm, inviting, social place.

8Wherever possible, frame views and take advantage of the borrowed landscape (what you get for free from the neighbours or countryside outside your garden).

Using clipped hedges or doorways or entrances cut into hedges to frame a piece of sculpture or view of an inviting bench or piece of statuary is a concept perfected by garden gurus like Vita Sackville West, Rosemary Verey, Lawrence Johnson and Penelope Hobhouse. Your goal should be to create framed pictures worthy of a high-class magazine.

9 Keep it simple and resist over-elaborating. Plant in drifts of three and five rather than one of this and one of that.

Over-elaborate schemes come across as bitty and lacking in confidence.

Planting in solid drifts of colour and foliage texture increases the impact of your overall scheme, and creates a more restful and harmonious design. Some top garden designers, such as Spain’s Fernando Caruncho, use only five or six kinds of plants in different associations and forms and rhythms to create an overall sense of unity and artistic consistency.

10Make your statuary and decorative ornamentation do more than occupy space and look interesting.

At Powis Castle in Wales, they placed a statue of Hercules slaying the Hydra next to a 300-year-old gigantic rippled yew hedge, thus placing the muscular, heroic figure from antiquity against an equally muscular masterpiece.

The classic figure of the Water Carrier makes more of statement placed against a stream or water feature than in a hosta patch.

Herons stepping through a sea of blue ornamental grass or surrounded by an ocean of blue forget-me-knots is more fun than seeing them on a lawn in the shade of trees.

Have fun with decorative pieces and never forget the power a beautiful stone pot can have left empty and placed just as is in a flower border or surrounded by masses of lavender or nepeta.

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10 Tips for new gardeners

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